Are You A Cheese & Cracker Christian?
by Corey Keith
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
(Hebrews 5:12-14)
This does not point to unsaved persons, it points to those that through laziness, complacency, tradition and just plain bad teaching or no teaching other than what is barely necessary to get by – that have not grown or maybe we should say, they have their growth stunted.
The church has become more of a daycare center than a place of growth or encouragement and it little produces anyone who goes out into the World and makes a change for the Kingdom. Donating to distant lands is great but it is avoiding the home front battle and the souls in your neighborhood that are in need as well and each individual or situation that you overlook, God will hold you responsible.
If the leaders of the modern church had been raised on meat instead of milk things would be different – but they think it is too strict, too hard, - they think that since we are under grace all is well and we can just sit back and enjoy seeing the same people from week to week and never encourage growth. Building a porch on someone’s house will not cut it, driving someone around for free will not change it – you have to grow out and beyond, yet people when they hear this because the milk they have, they have fallen in love with, and meat is just too tough fro their tender mouths and teeth……God help us all!
This happens many times because people see or hear something and they fear it and then never look for the truth of things according to a deep study of the Word of God – they just make up their minds that this is bad, wrong, scary, uncomfortable or etc. many people will not witness to others and it is because they do not wish to offend anyone or upset them in anyway, or maybe they would rather keep their current reputation in tact instead. Friend, if you do not witness to others you are violating a command from Jesus Christ and as far as being stoic or a reputation, when Jesus asks why you did not do it on the home front, what will you say? Jesus Himself said that preaching is and will be an offense and as well witnessing will be in some ways. However, when one really has the Holy Spirit in them then He brings discernment and if you really wish to witness He in fact will tell you when.
Souls are important and wherever you live – your town, village, hamlet, city – is full of unsaved souls that are right now on their way to an eternal hell and you can make a difference, unless you are afraid of what your family may say or people may think - - trust me, trust God more, if you really want to make a difference for the Kingdom, God will protect you as you go forth.
Now – the reason for much of this in certain areas more so than others is a midget minded mentality and the poor thought processes of those who want to be “the ones”. Groups here and there are filled with the arrogance of the Laodicean church and as they think why should they do any more…..? (Revelation 3:14-17) This is why there is never any new growth – no new members, no altar calls, new converts and so on. In the quagmire so long they cannot see how to get out and frankly they do not want to get out for it would shed light on their faults and inconsistent natures, lives and actions. I feel they forget that God sees what is not being done and that He will in fact Judge this very soon.
This way we can see better – when a parent has a child – they do not allow the child to remain uneducated, whether or not the parent understands, knows are has accomplished all that the child does, you still as a parent do not hold them back so you can remain smarter, right? When a person has a child they do not keep the child in diapers and on baby food for their entire life. When a person has a child, sooner than later they take or definitely should take the pacifier out of their mouth, lest they end up “bucked toothed”.
Today in the modern church there are many “bucked toothed” Christians. They have adopted the ways of Laodicea and have a form of godliness but deny the true power. They avoid outside contact, they avoid change or move out of the comfort zone and all the while they are in danger as we read in Revelation 3 – and worse they are placing others in jeopardy by not getting out of their box and moving and progressing as God desires for them.
A brief classic example in closing this writing – a few weeks ago “this writer” mentioned to someone that the Lord had told them that their child would pass a particular test and all would be well – and in fact the Lord God did tell me that. I shared it with the person and their child – the test came and went and they felt as if they had totally “bombed out’ as they called it – At that moment they asked the question, to themselves, what “this writer” would think or say. In other words for over a week they had doubt instead of faith and they doubted not only me, they doubted God, His care and Love as well as His Truth. Low and behold the results were returned and the young man had indeed passed the test as God said He would. –
Now! Doubting Christian - - where do you go from here?
See- God does care and God does use others to tell truths, have dreams or other things to prove a point. That God does care and at the same time as I have said so many times, God allows certain people be it one or a few, He allows people to “know” things and to give a prophecy over others or situations so it builds a trust and a character for that person God is using to deliver the message – it is always the peoples choice to listen or reject the message.
When you have too much milk and not enough meat – you do not grow as much as God desires, you become doubtful and arrogant in that way of life as well. Still thinking you have all the answers and really all the while you are a “bucked tooth” Christian - -
Take out the pacifier and move forward in God -